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Christian Jost's Red Lantern Debuts at Zürich Opera House

Mar. 03, 2015

Christian Jost's <em>Red Lantern</em> Debuts at Zürich Opera House

Christian Jost’s Red Lantern, which receives its premiere this month, is the final work in the composer’s trilogy of operas that focus on “different young modern women caught in abysmal, surreal, erotic situations.” The trilogy, which also comprises his works Die Arabische Nacht and Rumor, has spanned nearly a decade of work for Jost, who also wrote the libretto for each installment. Red Latern receives its world premiere on March 8 at the Zürich Opera House in Switzerland.

Of Red Lantern, Jost writes:

[In the opera, Song-Lian] arrives at the estate of Master Chen as the fourth, most beautiful and youngest of the concubines. But Song-Lian has more ambitious aims than merely succumbing with pleasure to the finely spun web of intrigue and passion. The year she spends with Master Chen adheres to the logic of a nightmare in which the seasons alter as they please and lust and jealousy dictate the hours of the day. The entire plot of my opera is steered by Song-Lian’s view of things. As if in a dream, she abandons herself to her fate, recognizing that the secret keeping her in this world lies at the bottom of a well.

The production, staged by Nadja Loschky and conducted by Alain Altinoglu, runs through March 27. Soprano Shelley Jackson stars as the opera’s protagonist Song-Lian, with baritone Rodney Gilfry as Master Chen. Coloratura soprano Marlis Petersen, mezzo-soprano Lin Shi, and alto Liliana Nikiteanu complete the cast. 

For more information on Christian Jost, please visit schott-music.com.

Visit opernhaus.ch for details on the production.

Christian Jost
Rote Laterne (Red Lantern) (2014)
an opera based on the novel “Wives and Concubines” by Su Tong
libretto (Ger) by Christian Jost
for 2 sopranos, 2 mezzo-sopranos, alto, baritone, tenor, 2 speakers and two actors
2(2.afl).1.ca.1.bcl.1.cbsn-4.0.0.1-6perc-hp-solo vn-str
90’

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